The ranchers who inspired the Oregon standoff have reported to prison

Protesters
march on Court Avenue in support of an Oregon ranching family
facing jail time for arson in Burns, Ore., Saturday, Jan. 2,
2016.Les Zaitz/The Oregonian via
AP

Father-and-son ranchers convicted of setting fire to federal
grazing land reported to prison Monday as the armed
anti-government activists who have taken up their cause
maintained the occupation of a remote Oregon wildlife preserve.

Federal authorities made no immediate attempt to
retake the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in the remote high
desert of eastern Oregon, which about two dozen activists seized
over the weekend as part of a decades-long fight over public
lands in the West.

There appeared to be no urgent reason for
federal officials to move in. No one has been hurt. No one is
being held hostage. And because the refuge is a bleak and
forbidding stretch of wilderness about 300 miles from Portland,
and it's the middle of winter, the standoff is causing few if any
disruptions.

Meanwhile, the armed group said it wants an
inquiry into whether the government is forcing ranchers off their
land after the father and son were ordered back to prison for
arson on federal grazing lands.

The group calling itself Citizens for
Constitutional Freedom demanded a government response within five
days related to the ranchers' extended sentences.

Ammon Bundy — one of the sons of rancher Cliven
Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 Nevada standoff with the
government over grazing rights — told reporters that Dwight
Hammond and his son, Steven Hammond, were treated
unfairly.

The Hammonds were convicted of arson three years
ago for fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006, one of which was
set to cover up deer poaching, according to prosecutors. They
said they lit the fires to reduce the growth of invasive plants
and protect their property from wildfires.

The men served their original sentences —three
months for Dwight and one year for Steven. But an appeals court
judge ruled the terms fell short of minimum sentences that
require them to serve about four more years.

Their sentences have been a rallying cry for the
group, whose mostly male members said they want federal lands
turned over to local authorities so people can use them free of
U.S. oversight.

Ammon
Bundy, son of rancher Cliven Bundy, talks about being tasered in
Bunkerville, NevadaThomson
Reuters

The father and son reported to a federal prison Monday in
California, said Harney County, Oregon, Sheriff David Ward. He
provided no other details.

The Hammonds have distanced themselves from the protest group and
many locals, including people who want to see federal lands made
more accessible, don't want the activists here, fearing they may
bring trouble.

Schools in the small town of Burns, about 30
miles from the refuge, were closed for the week out of concern
for student safety.

For the moment, the federal government was doing
nothing to remove them, but the FBI said it was monitoring the
situation. The White House said President Obama was aware of the
situation and hopes it can be resolved peacefully.

The refuge was established in 1908 by President
Theodore Roosevelt to protect bird populations that had been
decimated by plume hunters selling feathers for the hat
industry.

It sits in a wide snow-covered valley rimmed by
distant mountains and contains lakes and marshland. The preserve
has grown over the years to about 300 square miles and surrounds
the ranch Dwight Hammond bought with his father in 1964. Dwight
Hammond said his family has resisted pressure to sell the ranch
as the federal government chipped away at his grazing allotments
and increased fees on other lands.

The refuge contains about 10 small buildings,
some of which had been entered by the occupying group. Other
members of the group blocked the entrance to the
headquarters.

The takeover prompted an outcry far beyond
Oregon from both those who want to see federal lands opened to
more ranching and logging and others who were astounded that
private citizens with guns could seize government property
without any intervention by law enforcement.

The tactics of the group were condemned by
Democrats and Republicans alike.

Sen. Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat who is
familiar with the Bundys from their standoff in his state, said
the group could not continue breaking the law, but that everyone
should remain patient.

A
U.S. flag covers a sign at the entrance of the Malheur National
Wildlife Refuge near BurnsThomson
Reuters

"These people say we want to return (the land) to the people,"
Reid said. "The people have it right now."

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz
of Texas said he hoped the group would "stand down peaceably"
with no violent confrontation "sooner rather than later."

Ammon Bundy said his group had sent a demand for
"redress for grievances" to local, state and federal officials.
The group, which included a couple of women and some boys and
girls Monday, did not release a copy of its demands. Bundy would
not say what the group would do if it got no response.

"We have exhausted all prudent measures and have
been ignored," he said.

The dispute harkens back to a long-running
struggle over public lands between some Westerners and the
federal government, which owns nearly half the land in the
West.

In the 1970s, during the "Sagebrush Rebellion," Nevada and other
states pushed for local control over federal land. Supporters of
that idea want to more land available for cattle grazing, mining
and timber harvesting.

Opponents say the federal government should
administer lands for the widest possible uses, including
environmental and recreational.

Bundy said the group plans to stay at the refuge
as long as it takes.

Keith Landon, a longtime resident of Burns who
works at the Reid Country Store, said he sympathizes with the
Bundys' frustrations. Landon was a logger until the federal
government declared the spotted owl a protected species in the
1980s — a decision that hurt the local logging industry.

"It's hard to discredit what they're trying to
do out there," he said. "But I don't want anybody hurt."

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